Christmas Memories: A Keepsake Book from the Heart of the Home

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A Christmas Memory' is a short story written by Truman Capote, first published in 1956. This much sought-after autobiographical recollection of Capote's rural Alabama boyhood has become a modern-day classic. This sense of the frailty of life and transience of the moments of happiness makes the whole story special. Capote, in his adult life, may have allowed himself a certain idealization of his childhood years. But this does not take away anything from the beauty of this single Christmas memory. The text is lyrical without sliding into mushiness. Seven-year-old Buddy knows that the Christmas season has arrived when his cousin, Miss Sook Falk exclaims: "It's fruitcake weather!" Thus begins an unforgettable portrait of an odd, but enduring, friendship between two innocent souls—one young and one old—and the memories they share of beloved holiday rituals. Truman Capote was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognised literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a "non-fiction novel." At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.

I wish that I could have gone down that lemony sun pool path with seven year old Buddy (Truman Capote) and his cousin Miss Sook. What a delightful woman she was, and he was so fortunate to have had her in is life. Together they made Christmas a joy. Miss Sook made around 30 fruitcakes for people that she knew in town, storekeepers, the mailman, and anyone else that they liked, and this year when they bought whiskey for the cake, they bought it from Mr. HaHa, who gave it to them in exchange for a fruitcake. He was a scary man to approach, but approach him they did.The mill owner's wife persists: 'A dollar, my foot! Fifty cents. That's my last offer. Goodness, woman, you can get another one.' In answer, my friend gently reflects: 'I doubt it. There's never two of anything.” This short vignette tells of the last Christmas Capote spent with his friend, a distant, decades older cousin. Though there will be no fruitcake at our table, I will delight in Sook's excited call to Buddy. "It's Fruitcake Weather!"

This little tale is considered to be semi-autobiographical. Truman Capote many years later reminisces about one of his childhood Christmases - the one that was destined to be the last he spent together with his best friend.The book ends on Christmas day when the friends exchange gifts, though Capote includes asides that hint at sad and somber events in the future. Indeed, nothing can last forever, even the joy of Christmas. I absolutely loved this book, though the ending left me in tears. Oh my,” she [Buddy’s friend] exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane, “it’s fruitcake weather!” The Christmas dinner described above was the last my wife and I shared with my Mother. We were fortunate to have her with us through Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our homes were two doors apart. My wife and I moved into her home to be her caregivers. Mother died February 1, 2012. I am fortunate to have a number of books given to me by her through the years. I am mindful of the poet W.S. Merwin who told us, “What you remember saves you.” Yes, it does.

They struggle hauling the heavy thing home, and a car carrying a rich mill owner’s wife stops and the wife offers to buy the tree off of them for “twobits.” The cousin refuses.This sums up their relationship best. I liked how the narrator constantly called the lady “my friend.” The narrator's pride in their friendship can be felt in how he constantly calls the lady “my friend.” She is the only person who understands Buddy. I've watched the television special - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQGEU... - countless times now, so it was impossible to read this without hearing Capote's voice. The author by narrating this little episode gently reminds us to value those whom we love, appreciate what we have at the present moment, and attempt to make the most of it.

The universe of these two is restricted to the house in which they live with other somewhat abstract relatives, walks in the nearby woods, and occasional visits to local shops. They, however, regard their simple life as equal to the most pleasant one that may be had in the world outside. Normally two slender volumes stand next to the Capote short stories . They are slipcased editions of "The Thanksgiving Visitor" and a "Christmas Memory." I have taken them to the bedside table because it is time to read them once more. The Holidays have begun. Thanksgiving has come and gone. I could re-shelve "The Thanksgiving Visitor, but I never do until I have read "A Christmas Memory" once more. Reading this short story with immaculate vibes somewhat resembles a long nature walk on which you have embarked with your good old friend. At some point you feel tired, see a little old-fashioned cafe with not a single visitor, and decide to have a hot drink. After getting it, you are sitting at the cafe table trying to warm yourself up and watching two kites cavort in the sky (this line is inspired by the story) when your friend starts relating one episode from his childhood. As he speaks, you begin feeling cozy and warm. He is seven, she is sixty-something and they are the best of pals. We’re told there are others in the household, but they don’t figure in this gorgeous little story of scrimping and saving all year for the money to buy the ingredients.Things. Toys, books, friends, parents, lovers, spouses, children. What would we do without the gift of memory? How would we survive? Without it, we would be nothing but empty shells mindlessly living in the moment. The largely autobiographical story, which takes place in the 1930s, describes a period in the lives of the seven-year-old narrator and an elderly woman who is his distant cousin and best friend. The evocative narrative focuses on country life, friendship, and the joy of giving during the Christmas season, and it also gently yet poignantly touches on loneliness and loss. Perhaps I should say this is not so much the review of a book, but the response A Christmas Memory still draws from me each year when I read it. Perhaps it is just a simple statement of the preciousness of memory and the gift it brings us to keep things alive within us, though those things have been gone from us for many years. In all our lives we have memories both bitter and sweet. Nobody said it better than Robert Frost. "In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on." The story centers around the friendship between a seven-year-old boy called Buddy and his sixty-something friend - a superstitious woman who “wouldn’t even dream of getting out of bed on the thirteenth” but who has a kind heart. They are very distant cousins, but this does not seem important.